



Glass ivA 8345 



AN ESSAY 



m 



THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 



g EXEMPLIFIED IX THE ECONOMY OF THE METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



By Rev. J. H. WYTHES, M.D, 

OF THE PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 



2 MULBERRY -STREET. 

1853. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 
CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern 
District of New-York. 



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PREFACE. 



Most of the secessions from the communion of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church have been owing to a 
diversity of opinion or a want of information re- 
specting the extent of authority claimed by the itin- 
erant ministry, and the recent discussion of the ques- 
tion of lay delegation has revived the subject and 
led to controversies which might have proved dele- 
terious to the Church. 

The polity of the Church has never lacked de- 
fenders, some of whom yet live to bless us with their 
counsels, while others have passed away; yet as 
most of their productions were penned in the midst 
of controversy, and as none of them have confined 
their essays to the authority and extent of the Pas- 
toral Office, the writer deems that a condensed view 
of the subject, under appropriate heads of discourse, 
may not be unacceptable, or without its use. 

The subject might have been readily extended to 
a volume of more respectable size ; but conciseness 



4: PREFACE. 

has been preferred to verbiage, and it is hoped that 
what is lacking in size is made up in matter. Two 
principles have been kept steadily in view during 
the progress of this little work — the Scriptural author- 
ity of the pastors of the Church, and the essential 
rights of the membership. The writer believes these 
principles to be harmonized in the economy of the 
Church of his choice, and this harmony he has en- 
deavoured to exhibit. If he has failed, it has been 
from want of ability in himself, rather than from a 
want of truth in his subject. If he shall have proved 
at all successful, he will be satisfied with the con- 
sciousness that he has contributed his mite to the 
advancement of a cause which lies nearer to his 
heart than all the world besides. 

In committing this essay to his brethren, the 
writer would suggest the propriety of the Psalmist's 
beautiful sentiments: "Behold, how good and how 
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity !" 
" Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ; they shall pros- 
per that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and 
prosperity within thy palaces ! " 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. TAGE 

I. THE PASTORAL OFFICE OF DIVINE RIGHT 7 

II. NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE 21 

III. EXTENT OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE 31 

IV. LIMITATIONS OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE 49 

V. PECULIARITIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE IN 

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH G2 

VI. — PECULIARITIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE IN 
TH£ METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH CON- 
TINUED..... 73 

VII. PASTORAL CONFERENCES OF THE METHODIST 

EPISCOPAL CHURCH 87 

VIII. ON PASTORAL SUPPORT. 98 



THE 



PASTORAL OFFICE- 



chapter i. 

THE PASTORAL OFFICE OF DIVINE RIGHT. 

Not a matter of expediency — Church under law to Christ — 
Scriptural authority for the ministerial office — Views of theo- 
logians — Views of Churches. 

It is a favourite doctrine with the gener- 
ality of the members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, as well as many others, 
that no particular form of Church govern- 
ment is prescribed for the Church by di- 
vine authority ; and, to a certain extent, 
this doctrine is true. 

If, by a particular form of Church 
government, the peculiar relation of minis- 
ters, or individual Churches, with each 
other, be referred to ; as, for instance, 
whether they shall be Independent, Pres- 



8 THE PASTORAL OFFICE! 

byterial, or Episcopal, in their economy; 
or if it be meant, that the mode in which 
the great principles of the gospel should 
be carried into effect, in relation to Church 
fellowship between individual members, 
may be properly left to the judgment of 
each Church, then we have no fault to 
find with the doctrine alluded to : but if 
it is intended to assert, that it is a matter 
of expediency whether the Church has 
pastors or has not ; or, that the nature and 
extent of pastoral duty is to be determined 
by conventional arrangement, then we beg 
leave to dissent from it altogether. 

In a community in which the doctrine 
of the divine right of kings has been thor- 
oughly exploded, the claim of such right 
for the pastors of the Church will, of 
course, be regarded with suspicion; and 
weak minds will be inclined to connect 
such a claim with the arrogant pretensions 
of the Papal priesthood during the dark 
ages. Yet these obvious disadvantages 
will not deter us from presenting what we 
believe to be the truth. We may remark 
here, however, that whatever evils the 



OF DIVINE KIWHT. V 

Church may have suffered at the hands of 
an apostate priesthood, have grown out of 
the extent of their authority, rather than 
out of their claim of divine right. It is 
one thing to profess to be sent of God to 
preach the gospel, and quite another thing 
to claim dominion over the faith and con- 
sciences of men. 

If the objects of Church fellowship were 
identical with the objects of national gov- 
ernment, the arguments of republicanism 
might reasonably apply to this subject; 
but they are not so. 

The Church is not a convention for the 
preservation of mutual rights, but an asso- 
ciation of believers, in obedience to God's 
word; hence it cannot be self-governed, 
but is under law to Christ, Even the lib- 
erty of the Church to " ordain, change, or 
abolish rites and ceremonies," is a liberty 
allowed and controlled by the law of the 
gospel. 

By the divine right of the pastoral office 
we mean, that it is the prerogative of the 
Divine Being to call men to the exercise 
of the gospel ministry ; consequently, that 



10 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

all gospel ministers profess to be moved 
by the Holy Ghost to take upon themselves 
this office: also, that the nature, extent, 
and limitations of the pastoral office are 
clearly exhibited in the New Testament, 
and are not left, therefore, to be deter- 
mined by contract or expediency. 

No attentive reader of the New Testa- 
ment will hesitate to admit that Christ se- 
lected or ordained certain of his disciples 
to the special work of preaching or pro- 
claiming his gospel. See Matt, x; Luke 
ix, 1-6 ; x, 1-17. Twelve of them were 
admitted into more intimate familiarity 
than the rest, and were distinguished by 
the name of apostles. These were regarded, 
after the ascension of Christ, as possessing 
chief authority among the disciples, being 
the principal witnesses of the resurrection 
of the Saviour, and being empowered, by 
divine inspiration, to establish the infant 
Church. Acts i, 15-26; vi, 2-6; 1 Cor. 
ix, 1 ; Gal. ii, 9. 

It is also evident that the New Testa- 
ment represents the whole gospel ministry 
as founded upon divine appointment. The 



OF DIVIDE RIGHT. 11 

following passages are quoted in proof of 
this position : — 

"The Holy Ghost said, Separate me 
Barnabas and Saul for the work where- 
unto I have called them." Acts xiii, 2. 

" Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, 
and to all the flock, over which the Holy 
Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed 
the Church of God, which he hath pur- 
chased with his own blood." Acts xx, 28. 

"I have appeared unto thee for this 
purpose, to make thee a minister and a 
witness, both of these things which thou 
hast seen, and of those things in the which 
I will appear unto thee ; delivering thee 
from the people, and from the Gentiles, 
unto whom now I send thee, to open their 
eyes, and to turn them from darkness to 
light, and from the power of Satan unto 
God, that they may receive forgiveness of 
sins," &c. Acts xxvi, 16-18. 

"How shall they believe in Him of 
whom they have not heard ? and how shall 
they hear without a preacher? and how 
shall they preach except they be sent ?" &c. 
Rom. x, 14, 15. 



12 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

" JFor Christ sent rne .... to preach the 
gospel." 1 Cor. i, 17. 

" For after that, in the wisdom of God, 
the world by wisdom knew not God, it 
pleased God, by the foolishness of preach- 
ing, to save them that believe." 1 Cor. 
i, 21. 

" Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, 
but ministers by whom ye believed, even 
as the Lord gave to every man ?" 1 Cor. 
ii, 5. 

"Even so hath the Lord ordained that 
they which preach the gospel should live 
of the gospel." 1 Cor. ix, 14. 

"God hath set some in the Church; 
first, apostles ; secondarily, prophets ; third- 
ly, teachers ; after that, miracles ; then gifts 
of healing, helps, governments, diversities 
of tongues." 1 Cor. xii, 28. 

" Our sufficiency is of God, who also 
hath made us able ministers of the new 
testament; not of the letter, but of the 
spirit," &c. 2 Cor. iii, 6. 

" All things are of God, who hath given 
to us the ministry of reconciliation .... 
hath committed unto us the word of rec- 



OF DIVINE EIGHT. 13 

onciliation. jSTow then we are ambassadors 
for Christ, as though God did beseech you 
by us ; we pray you, in Christ's stead, be 
ye reconciled to God." 2 Cor. v, 18-20. 

M I was made a minister, according to 
the gift of the grace of God given unto 
me, by the effectual working of his power," 
etc. Eph. iii, 7, &c. 

¥ When he ascended up on high, he led 
captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 
.... And he gave some, apostles ; and 
some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; 
and some, pastors and teachers ; for the 
perfecting of the saints, for the work of 
the ministry, for the edifying of the body 
of Christ," &c. Eph. iv, 8, 11, 12, &c. 

"I am made a minister, according to 
the dispensation of God, which is given to 
me for you, to fulfil the word of God." 
Col. i, 25. 

" As we were allowed of God to be put 
in trust with the gospel, even so we speak ; 
not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth 
our hearts." 1 Thess. ii, 4. 

"If thou put the brethren in remem- 
brance of these things, thou shalt be a 



14 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

good minister of Jesus Christ," &c. 1 Tim. 
iv, 6. 

" I put thee in remembrance that thou 
stir up the gift of God, which is in thee 
by the putting on of my hands." 2 Tim. 
i,6. 

" Be strong in the grace that is in Christ 
Jesus. And the things that thou hast 
heard of me among many witnesses, the 
same commit thou to faithful men, who 
shall be able to teach others also." 2 Tim. 
ii, 1, 2. 

" Preach the word ; be instant in season, 
out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, 

with all long-suffering and doctrine 

Watch thou in all things, endure afflic- 
tions, do the work of an evangelist, make 
full proof of thy ministry." 2 Tim. iv, 2, 5. 

" For this cause left I thee in Crete, that 
thou shouldest set in order the things that 
are wanting, and ordain elders in every 

city, as I had appointed thee For 

a bishop must be blameless," &c. Tit. i, 5, 7. 

"Obey them that have the rule over 
you, and submit yourselves: for they 
watch for your souls, as they that must 



OF DIVINE RIGHT. 15 

give account ; that they may do it with 
joy, and not with grief: for that is un- 
profitable for yon." Heb. xiii, 17. 

From the tenor of these and similar pas- 
sages, the conclusion is certain, that the 
New Testament regards the ministry of 
the gospel, not as a conventional arrange- 
ment, but as an office ordained of God, 
and designed to be permanent in the 
Christian Church. 

Mr. Buck sums up the Scriptural ar- 
gument as follows : — ■" That the gospel 
ministry is of divine origin, and intended 
to be kept up in the Church, will evi- 
dently appear, if we consider the promises, 
that in the last and best times of the New 
Testament dispensation, there would be an 
instituted and regular ministry in her, 
(Eph. iv, 8, 11 ; Tit. i, 5 ; 1 Pet, v ; 1 Tim. i ;) 
also, from the names of office peculiar to 
some members in the Church, and not 
common to all, (Eph. iv, 8, 11 ;) from the 
duties which are represented as recipro- 
cally binding on ministers and people, 
(Heb. xiii, 7, 17 ; 1 Pet. v, 2-4 ;) from the 
promises of assistance which were given 



16 THE PASTOEAL OFFICE*. 

to the first ministers of the new dispensa- 
tion, (Matt, xxviii, 20 ;) and from the im- 
portance of a gospel ministry, which is re- 
presented in the Scripture as a very great 
blessing to them who enjoy it, and the re- 
moval of it as one of the greatest calami- 
ties which can befall any people. Rev. ii 
and iii." 

Mr. R. Watson, in his " Theological In- 
stitutes," remarks, " that the power of ad- 
mission into the Church, of reproof, of ex- 
hortation, and of excision from it, subject 
to various guards against abuses, is in the 
pastors of a Church. There are some 
who have adopted a different opinion, 
supposing that the power of administering 
the discipline of Christ must be conveyed 
by them to their ministers, and is to be 
wholly controlled by their suffrages; so 
that there is in these systems not a pro- 
vision of counsel against possible errors in 
the exercise of authority; not a guard 
against human infirmity or viciousness; 
not a reservation of right to determine 
upon the fitness of the cases to which the 
laws of Christ are applied ; but a claim of 



OF DIVINE KIGHT. 17 

co-administration as to these laws them- 
selves, or rather an entire administration 
of them through the pastor, as a passive 
agent of their will. Those who adopt 
these views are bound to show that this is 
the state of things established in the New 
Testament. That it is not, appears plain 
from the very term 'pastors,' which im- 
ports both care and government ; mild 
and affectionate government, indeed, but 
still government. Hence, the office of 
shepherd is applied to describe the gov- 
ernment of God and the government of 
kings. It appears, too, from other titles 
given, not merely to apostles, but to the 
presbyters they ordained and placed over 
the Churches. They are called rjyovfievot, 
rulers ; hrdoKoixoi, overseers ; TrgoearibTeg^ 
those who preside. They are commended 
for ' ruling well; 5 and they are directed 
'to charge, 5 'to reprove,' 'to rebuke,' 'to 
watch,' 'to silence,' 'to put away.' The 
very ' account' they must give to God, in 
connexion with the discharge of these du- 
ties, shows that their office and responsi- 
bility was peculiar and personal, and much 
2 



18 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

greater than that of any private member 
of the Church, which it could not be if 
they were the passive agents only, in mat- 
ters of doctrine and discipline, of the will 
of the whole. To the double duty of 
feeding and exercising the oversight of the 
flock, a special reward is also promised, 
when the ' chief Shepherd shall appear * — 
a title of Christ, which shows, that as the 
pastoral office of feeding and ruling is ex- 
ercised by Christ supremely, so it is exer- 
cised by his ministers, in both branches, 
subordinately. Finally, the exhortations 
to Christians to ' obey them that have the 
rule over them,' and to ' submit ' to them, 
and ' to esteem them very highly for their 
work's sake,' and to ■ remember them,' all 
show that the ministerial office is not one 
of mere agency, under the absolute direc- 
tion of the votes of the collected Church." 
"Vol. ii, pp. 593, 594. 

With these sentiments the Discipline of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church coincides. 
Part I, chap, iv, § 6, treats " Of the Exami- 
nation of those who think they are moved 
by the Holy Ghost to preach." This section 



OF DIVIDE RIGHT, 1& 

ends as follows :- — " As long as these tliree 
marks concur in any one, we believe lie is 
called of God to preach. These we receive 
as sufficient proof that he is moved by the 
Holy Ghost." 

Again, in the form of the Ordination of 
Deacons, the first question proposed to the 
elected candidate is, "Do you trust that 
you are inwardly moved by the Holy 
Ghost to take upon you the office of the 
ministry in the Church of Christ, to serve 
God for the promoting of his glory, and 
the edifying of his people ?" 

The form of ordination in the Protestant 
Episcopal Church corresponds with that 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

In the form of Presbyterial Church gov- 
ernment, agreed upon by the assembly of 
divines at Westminster, it is declared : — - 
" !NTo man ought to take upon him the of- 
fice of a minister of the word without a 
lawful calling;" and in proof of this posi- 
tion, as well as to show what is meant by 
"lawful calling," reference is made to 
John iii, 27 ; Rom. x, 14, 15 ; Jer. xiv, 14 ; 
Heb. v, 4. 



20 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

With the foregoing views the majority 
of Churches and theologians will be found 
to coincide. Nearly all will agree with 
us as to the ground of pastoral authority ; 
but with respect to its extent there may be 
much latitude of opinion. This subject 
will be considered as we proceed. 



ITS NATURE. 21 

CHAPTER II. 

NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 

I. Not temporal but spiritual— 2. Not a priesthood, in the dis- 
tinctive sense — 3. An office of instruction and admonition — 
Different degrees of pastoral authority. 

1. Not temporal, hut spiritual. As the 
pastorate is the chief human instrumental- 
ity employed by the gospel, it is evident 
that its design can be no other than the 
design of the gospel itself, viz. : the salva- 
tion of the world by faith in Jesus Christ. 
A less design is unworthy of the divine 
institution of the office; a greater end 
cannot be conceived by the intellect of an 
archangel. 

As the human soul is the object of sal- 
vation, it follows that the aim of the gospel 
ministry is spiritual benefit. "We seek 
not yours, but you." The office of the 
pastor is, therefore, not temporal, but spir- 
itual. It is true, that the law of Christ's 
gospel requires his people to be faithful in 
all things ; to use the world as not abusing 
it, and to regard themselves, in respect to 



22 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

the possession of worldly goods, as the 
stewards of a heavenly Master; yet the 
Scriptures nowhere recognise the pastor as 
clothed with temporal authority. To the 
civil magistrate is committed the power 
of the word, as "a terror to evil-doers;" 
and the apostles themselves, as well as 
private Christians, submitted "to every 
ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake." 
1 Pet, ii, 13-15. 

""When Christ saith his kingdom was 
not of this world, he implies, that he had 
a society that was governed by his laws in 
the world, yet distinct from all mundane 
societies. Had not our Saviour intended 
his Church to be a peculiar society, distinct 
from a commonwealth, it is hard to con- 
ceive why he should interdict the apostles 
the use of a civil coactive power ; or 
why, instead of sending abroad apostles to 
preach the gospel, he did not employ the 
governors of commonwealths to enforce 
Christianity by laws and temporal edicts, 
and the several magistrates to empower 
several persons under them to preach the 
gospel in their several territories? And 



ITS NA.TURE. 23 

can anything be more plain, by our Sa- 
viour's taking a contrary course, than 
that he intended a Church society to be 
distinct from civil, and the power belong- 
ing to it (as well as officers) to be of a 
different nature from that which is settled 
in a commonwealth." — Stillingfleet on the 
Power of Excommunication. 

2. It is not a priesthood, in the distinc- 
tive sense of that teim. There is a sense 
in which all Christian believers may be 
called "a holy priesthood, to offer up 
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by 
Jesus Christ," (1 Pet, ii, 5 ;) for they have 
been made " kings and priests unto God," 
(Rev. i, 6 ;) or, as some read, " a kingdom 
of priests." In reference to making atone- 
ment for sin, or mediating between God 
and man, the Xew Testament recognises 
but one priest, the great High-Priest 
of our profession, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
" who is able to save unto the uttermost 
all that come unto God by him, seeing 
he ever liveth to make intercession 
for us." 

"The Church of Rome, however, erro- 



24 THE PASTORAL OFFICE! 

neously believe their priests to be em- 
powered to offer up to the Divine Majesty 
real proper sacrifice, as were the priests 
under the Old Testament. Ecclesiastical 
history informs us that, in the second cen- 
tury, some time after the reign of the em- 
peror Adrian, when the Jews, by the 
second destruction, of Jerusalem, were be- 
reaved of all hopes of the restoration of 
their government to its former lustre, the 
notion that the ministers of the Christian 
Church succeeded to the character and 
prerogatives of the Jewish priesthood was 
industriously propagated by the Christian 
doctors: and that, in consequence, the 
bishops claimed a rank and character simi- 
lar to that of the Jewish high-priest ; the 
presbyters to that of the priests : and the 
deacons to that of the Levites. One of 
the pernicious effects of this groundless 
comparison and pretension seems to have 
been, the introduction of the idea of a real 
sacrifice in the Christian Church, and of 
sacrificing priests. 

" In the Church of England, the word 
priest is retained to denote the second or- 



ITS NATURE. 25 

der in her hierarchy, but we believe with 
very different significations, according to 
the different opinions entertained of the 
Lord's Supper. Some few of her divines, 
of great learning and of undoubted Prot- 
estantism, maintain that the Lord's Sup- 
per is a commemorative and eacharistical 
sacrifice. These consider all who are au- 
thorized to administer that sacrament as in 
the strictest sense priests. Others hold the 
Lord's Supper to be a feast upon the one 
sacrifice once offered on the cross; and 
these too must consider themselves as 
clothed with some kind of priesthood. 
Great numbers, however, of the English 
clergy, perhaps the majority, agree with 
the Church of Scotland, in maintaining 
that the Lord's Supper is a rite of no other 
moral import than the mere commemora- 
tion of the death of Christ. These camiot 
consider themselves as priests in the rigid 
sense of the word, but only as jW'<?s5?/fey'£, 
of which the \?ov& priest is a contraction, 
of the same import with elder" — Rev. C. 
Buck. * 

g The view of the sacrament of the Lord's 



26 THE PASTORAL OFFICE! 

Supper held by the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, is that it is not only a commemo- 
rative rite; a sign, or an emblem of the 
sufferings of Christ ; but also a covenant 
seal, or pledge of our allegiance to the 
Saviour ; " insomuch that, to such as rightly, 
worthily, and with faith receive the same, 
the bread which we break is a partaking 
of the body of Christ; and likewise the 
cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood 
of Christ ;'? only, however, " after a heav- 
enly and spiritual manner." Yet this 
view embodies nothing of the idea of a 
sacrifice or of the sacrificing priest- 
hood. 

3. The pastorate is simply an ecclesias- 
tical office of instruction and admonition, 
to which is added, the authority to admin- 
ister the sacraments, and to exercise an 
oversight over that portion of the Church 
who may receive the individual claiming 
such authority as the minister of Christ. 

" But what authority is this ? Is it not 
the duty of us all who are able, to instruct, 
exhort, reprove one another? Yes, it is; 
and I would to God it were more gener- 



ITS NATURE. 27 

ally practised. But yet every private 
Christian cannot do this with the authority 
of a bishop or a gospel minister. The 
instructions and exhortations of private 
Christians are acts of friendship and char- 
ity; and the obligation to do it, is that 
mutual concernment and sympathy which 
the members of the same body ought to 
have for each other : in gospel ministers, 
it is an act of authority, like the censures 
of a father, a magistrate, or a judge. 

"We do not pretend, indeed, as St. Paul 
speaks, to ' have dominion over your faith ; 5 
to exercise a kind of sovereign authority 
to oblige you to believe anything merely 
because we say it ; but yet our authority 
is such, that if in the exercise of our office 
we explain the articles of faith and rules 
of life to you, it lays an indispensable ob- 
ligation upon you carefully to examine 
what we say, and not to reject it without 
plain and manifest evidence that what we 
teach you is not agreeable to the will of 
God revealed in the Scriptures. For when 
we come in the name and authority of 
Christ, that man who rejects our message, 



28 THE PASTORAL OFFICEEI 

without being sure that we exceed our 
commission, rejects the authority by which 
we act ; and ' he that despiseth, despis- 
eth not man, but God. 5 "■ — JSev. W. Sher- 
lock, D. D. 

To " preach the word," being " instant 
in season and out of season ;" to " reprove, 
rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and 
doctrine ; and by all reasonable and judi- 
cious methods to endeavour to lead men 
to Christ — is the chief work of the gospel 
minister. This work is ranked by the 
apostle Paul above sacramental ordinances, 
(1 Cori, 14-1 7,) inasmuch as it hath pleased 
God " by the foolishness of preaching to 
save them that believe." To the ministry 
hath God committed the " word of recon- 
ciliation ;" and they " are ambassadors of 
God," beseeching men to "be reconciled 
to God." 

It may be objected, by some of our 
brethren in the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, (to whom, more especially, this 
treatise is addressed,) that our Church 
economy recognises the authority of men 
to preach the gospel who have yet no 



ITS NATURE. 29 

pastoral powers, in respect to the govern- 
ment or oversight of the Church. To this 
we may reply, that our local brethren 
(and probationers in the itinerancy) are, 
in every essential respect, the coadjutors 
and assistants of the itinerant pastors of 
the Church, in the duty of instruction and 
exhortation ; and they have never yet 
claimed the right of pastoral oversight and 
discipline. 

It is not essential to the integrity of the 
pastoral office, that each individual should 
be clothed with its fullest and highest 
powers. In the apostles' days, the deacons 
were ministers, or preachers of the word ; 
(Acts vi, 5, 10 ; vii ; viii, 5, 12, 40 ;) yet it 
is evident that they were subordinate, or 
inferior, in pastoral authority, to the apos- 
tles themselves. In the economy of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, the pastoral 
work is distributed among the entire min- 
istry, both itinerant and local; but the 
measure of pastoral authority, inherent in 
each individual, is subject to variation. 
While the disciplinary oversight of the 
whole Church is restricted to the itinerant 



30 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

ministry, who form a common pastorate 
in their conference capacity, the individ- 
ual exercise of the pastoral office, in any 
particular part of the Cnurch, may be 
committed one year to those who the fol- 
lowing year may be placed in a subordinate 
relation, as assistants to the preacher in 
charge. Nay, the principle is now pretty 
well conceded — at least in the northern 
branch of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
— that the bishops, in whom centre the 
highest powers of the pastorate, being but 
the officers of the common or united pas- 
torate, may either resign, or be removed 
to a subordinate position, if occasion may 
require, without affecting their character 
as Christian men, or their standing as gos- 
pel ministers. This principle seems to 
have been, in reality, the chief ground of 
the division of the Church, in the year 
1844, and, by the acceptance of Bishop 
Hamline's resignation, by the General 
Conference of 1852, the question has, we 
trust, been finally settled. 



ITS EXTENT. 31 

CHAPTER III. 

EXTENT OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 

1. Public and private ministrations — 2. Administration of the 
sacraments— Order of deacons a subordinate office in the pas- 
torate — 3. The oversight of the Church, including (1.) Ad- 
mission and expulsion of members — (2.) The application of 
admonition, rebuke, and censure — (3.) The institution of 
prudential regulations and ceremonies, with consent of the 
Church. 

AYe have seen that the authority of the 
pastoral office, whatever it may be, is 
based upon the fact of a divine call to the 
individual exercising it ; we now inquire 
what that authority is. 

Since the Xew Testament, as the charter 
and rule of the Church, constitutes the 
pastoral office, and points out its design, 
we may reasonably suppose it to limit and 
define its extent ; hence, whatever powers 
the pastors of any Church organization 
may exercise, which are not defined by, 
or to be clearly inferred from, the Scrip- 
tures, must be considered either a tyranni- 
cal usurpation of authority, or a convention- 
al arrangement by the consent of the whole 
Church. 



32 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

1. Public and private ministrations $ 
in other words, preaching the gospel, both 
publicly and " from house to house," is the 
first and chief work of the Christian pastor. 
The language of the minister's commission 
is, " Go ye into all the world, and preach 
the gospel to every creature." Mark xvi, 15. 
The apostle Paul regarded this work as of 
greater moment than any other duty he 
was called on to perforin. 1 Cor. i, 14-21 ; 
Acts xx, 20, 21. See chapter second, sec- 
tion third. 

Respecting the private ministrations of 
the pastors of the Church, the example of 
the apostles and first ministers of the 
Church, as given in the New Testament, 
is a sufficient authority and model. They 
kept back nothing that was profitable to 
the Churches, but taught them, not only 
publicly, but "from house to house," i. e., 
privately, on all suitable occasions. They 
never laid aside the dignity and sanctity 
of their ministerial character, but went 
forth seeking occasions of usefulness to 
their fellow-men. The salutations at the 
close of the apostolic epistles, show the 



ITS EXTENT. 33 

character of their intercourse with the 
families and individuals under their care. 
See also 1 Thess. ii, 4-13. 

2. The administration of the sacraments 
of the Church also pertains to the pastoral 
office. 

In the practice of the itinerancy of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, it is true 
that persons are sometimes appointed to 
the exercise of the other powers of the 
pastorate, who have no authority from the 
Church to administer the sacraments, or 
but partial authority for that purpose, as 
in the case of probationers or licentiates 
in the itinerancy, or those who have only 
been admitted to deacons' orders, being 
placed in charge of Churches. To such 
cases, the remarks at the close of our last 
chapter will prove applicable. 

It may be appropriate, in this place, to 
introduce a few remarks upon the office 
of deacon, in the ministry of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, inasmuch as our Pres- 
byterian brethren limit this office to the 
laity alone. 

The appointment of deacons in the 
3 



04r THE PASTORAL OFFICK: 

first Christian Church, is recorded Acts 
vi, 1-6 : " In those days, when the num- 
ber of the disciples was multiplied, there 
arose a murmuring of the Grecians against 
the Hebrews, because their widows w r ere 
neglected in the daily ministration. Then 
the twelve called the multitude of the dis- 
ciples unto them, and said, It is not reason 
that we should leave the word of God 
and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, 
look ye out among you seven men of honest 
report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, 
whom we may appoint over this business. 
But we will give ourselves continually to 
prayer and the ministry of the word. And 
the saying pleased the whole multitude : 
and they chose Stephen, a man full of 
faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, 
and Prochorus, and l^icanor, and Timon, 
and Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte 
of Antioch, whom they set before the 
apostles : and when they had prayed, they 
laid their hands on them." From this 
account it appears that the object of their 
first appointment was to assist or relieve 
the apostles in respect to the temporal 



ITS EXTENT. 35 

concerns of the Churches. Yet the solem- 
nity of the mode of their appointment 
seems to imply that the office included 
something more than "to serve tables;' 5 
for they were constituted by the laying on 
of hands, as in the case of other ministers 
or pastors. Acts xiii, 2, 3. Accordingly, 
we find Stephen immediately preaching 
the word. Acts vi, 8-10. Philip also be- 
came eminent as a preacher of the word. 
Acts viii, 5-40. The apostle Paul, too, 
when giving instructions respecting the 
qualifications of the ministry, refers to 
deacons, as well as presbyters. 1 Tim. 
iii, 8-13. 

As a subordinate office in the Christian 
ministry, we find deacons in every age of 
the Church. Tertullian tells us that they 
"baptized, in the absence of the bishop 
and presbyter," and both Polycarp and 
Ignatius speak of them as ministers of the 
word of God. 

These arguments form, we think, suffi- 
cient authority for regarding the order of 
deacons as pertaining to the pastoral office, 
in a- subordinate degree. 



36 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

3. The oversight of the Church. This 
is the distinctive feature of the pastoral 
office, and requires, therefore, to be plainly 
stated and defended. 

By the oversight of the Church we mean 
the reception of proper, and expulsion of 
improper members ; the religious instruc- 
tion and admonition of members ; the ap- 
plication of ecclesiastical censures or re- 
bukes to those who may have been guilty 
of improprieties ; and the institution of such 
prudential regulations and ceremonies, 
with the consent of the Church, as may 
tend to edification. 

(1.) As to the admission of proper, and 
the expulsion of improper members of the 
Church, the following passages of Scrip- 
ture are applicable: — 

" I will give unto thee the keys of the 
kingdom of heaven : and whatsover thou 
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in 
heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose 
on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matt, 
xvi, 19. 

"Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth 
shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever 



ITS EXTENT. 37 

ve shall loose on earth shall be loosed in 
heaven." Matt xviii, IS. 

i; Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are 
remitted unto them ; and whosesoever 
sins ye retain, they are retained." John 
xx, 23. 

The above texts mean something. It is 
contended by Protestants that none can 
forgive sins (in the moral sense) but God. 
What then can these passages mean, ex- 
cept ecclesiastical authority ? That the 
apostles so understood their prerogatives 
is evidenced by their practice, as shown 
by the following texts : — - 

" I, verily, as absent in body, but pres- 
ent in spirit, have judged already as though 
I were present, concerning him that hath 
so done this deed, in the name of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, when ve are gathered 
together, and my spirit, with the power 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such 
a one to Satan, for the destruction of the 
fiesh, that the spirit may be saved in the 
day of the Lord Jesus." 1 Cor. v, 3-5. 

This offender was afterward restored to 
the communion of the Church, by the 



38 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

apostle's permission. See the next quota- 
tion. 

"To whom ye forgive anything, I for- 
give also : for if I forgave anything, to 
whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave 
I it in the person of Christ." 2 Cor. ii, 10. 

" He that despiseth, despiseth not man, 
but God, who hath also given unto us his 
Holy Spirit." 1 Thess. iv, 8. 

The propriety of restricting this part of 
pastoral oversight in the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church to the itinerant ministry of 
that Church, is set in a clear light by Dr. 
Coke and Bishop Asbury, in their Notes 
upon the Discipline, written at the request 
of the General Conference, and published 
in 1798. They say of the preacher in 
charge : " He is also to receive members 
upon trial, and into the society, according 
to the form of the Discipline. If this 
authority were invested in the society, or 
any part of it, the great work of revival 
would soon be at an end. A very remark- 
able proof of this was given, several years 
ago, by a society in Europe. Many of the 
leading members of that society were ex- 



ITS EXTENT. 39 

eeedingly importunate to have the whole 
government of their society invested in a 
meeting composed of the principal preach- 
er and a number of lay elders and lay dea- 
cons, as they termed them. At last, the 
preacher who had the oversight of the cir- 
cuit was prevailed upon, through their inces- 
sant importunity, to comply with their 
request. He accordingly nominated all 
the leaders and stewards as lay elders and 
lay deacons, with the desired powers. But, 
alas ! what was the consequence I The 
great revival which was then in that soci- 
ety and congregation was soon extinguish- 
ed. Poor sinners, newly awakened, were 
nocking into the Church of God, as doves 
to their windows. But now the wisdom 
and prudence of the new court kept them at 
a distance till they had given full proof of 
their repentance. ' If their convictions be 
sincere,' said they. ' they will not withdraw 
themselves from the preaching of the word 
on account of our caution'; they themselves 
will see the propriety of our conduct.' 
Thus, while the fervent preacher was one 
hour declaring the willingness of Christ 



40 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

immediately to receive the returning sin- 
ners, the wisdom of the lay elders and 
deacons would, the next hour, reject them 
even from being received upon trial, un- 
less they had been before painted sepul- 
chres ^ inwardly fidl of dead merCs hones 
and rottenness. The preacher who had 
the charge of the circuit nearly broke his 
heart, to see the precious souls which God 
had given him kept at a distance from 
him, and thrown back again upon the 
wide world, by the prudent lay elders and 
deacons. However, at his earnest entreaty, 
he was removed into another circuit by 
the Conference, under whose control he 
acted, to enjoy the blessings of the Meth- 
odist economy. The revival of the work 
of God was soon extinguished, and the so- 
ciety, from being one of the most lively, 
became one of the most languid in Europe. 
" Glory be to God, all our societies, 
throughout the world, now (1778) amount- 
ing to upwards of one hundred and sixty 
thousand, have been raised, under grace, 
hy our ministers and preachers. They, 
and they only, are their spiritual fathers, 



ITS EXTENT. 41 

under God, and none others can feel for 
them as they do. It is true, that in great 
revivals the spiritually halt, and blind, and 
lame, will press in crowds into the Church 
of God ; and they are welcome to all that 
we can do for their invaluable souls, till 
they prove unfaithful to convincing or 
converting grace ; and we will not throw 
back their souls upon the wicked world, 
whilst groaning under the burden of sin, 
because many on trial quench their con- 
victions, or perhaps were hypocritical from 
the beginning. We would sooner go 
again into the highways and hedges, and 
form new societies, as at first, than we 
would give up a privilege so essential to 
the ministerial office, and to the revival 
of the work of God. 

" ' The Master of the house [God] said 
to his servant, Go out quickly into the 
streets and lanes of the city, and bring hi 
hither the poor, and the maimed, and the 
halt, and the blind. And the servant said, 
Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, 
and yet there is room.' He obeys his God 
without asking permission of any society 



42 THE PASTORAL OFFICE! 

whether he should obey him or not. i And 
the Lord said unto the servant, Go out in- 
to the highways and hedges, and compel 
them to come in, that my house may be 
filled.' Luke xiv, 21-23. The servant an- 
swers not to his God, I will comply with 
thy command as far as my society, or 
my leaders or stewards, will permit me. 
Again : the Lord says to Ezekiel, chapter 
xxxiv, 2-10, S Son of man, prophesy against 
the shepherds of Israel ; prophesy, and say 
unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto 
the shepherds : Woe be to the shepherds 
of Israel. The diseased have ye not 
strengthened, neither have ye healed that 
which w^as sick, neither have ye bound up 
that which was broken, neither" have ye 
brought again that which was driven 
away, neither have ye sought that which 
was lost. And they were scattered, be- 
cause there is no shepherd ; and they be- 
came meat to all the beasts of the field, 
when they were scattered. Therefore, ye 
shepherds, hear the word of the Lord : As 
I live, saith the Lord God, surely because 
my flock became a prey, and my flock be- 



ITS EXTENT. 43 

came meat to every beast of the field, be- 
cause there was no shepherd, neither did 
my shepherds search for my flock ; there- 
fore, O ye shepherds, hear the word 
of the Lord ; thus saith the Lord God ; 
Behold, I am against the shepherds ; 
and I will require my flock at their 
hand, and cause them to cease from feed- 
ing the flock, 5 <fec. Now what pastors, 
called and owned of God, would take upon 
themselves this awful responsibility, if 
others could refuse to their spiritual chil- 
dren the grand external privilege of the 
gospel, or admit among them the most im- 
proper persons, to mix with and corrupt 
them. Truly, whatever the pastors of 
other Churches may do, we trust that ours 
will never put themselves under so dreadful 
a bondage. It is in vain to say that others 
may be as tender and cautious as the pas- 
tors / for th&pastors are the persons respon- 
sible to God, and therefore should by no 
means be thus fettered in their pastoral 
care. And those who are desirous to wrest 
out of the hands of ministers this impor- 
tant part of their duty, should rather go 



44: THE PASTOEAL OFFICE. 

out themselves to the highways and hedges, 
and preach the everlasting gospel, or be 
content with their present providential situ- 
ation. Besides, the command of our Lord, 
' Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, 
baptizing them, 5 &c, (Matt, xxviii, 19,) is 
addressed to pastors only — to his disci- 
ples, and, through them, to all his minis- 
tering servants, to the end of the world. 
But if ministers are to be the judges of 
the proper subjects of baptism, which is 
the grand initiatory ordinance into the visi- 
ble Church, how much more should they 
have a right to determine whom they will 
take under their awn care, or whom God 
has given them out of the world by the 
preaching of his word! For ministers to 
spend their strength, their tears, their 
prayers, their lives, for the salvation of 
souls, and to have both themselves and 
theirs under the control of those who never 
travailed in birth for them, and, therefore, 
can never feel for them as their spiritual 
parents do, is a burden we cannot bear. 
Thus it is evident that both reason and 
Scripture do, in the clearest manner, make 



ITS EXTENT. 45 

the privilege or power now under con- 
sideration essential to the gospel minis- 
try." 

(2.) As to the application of admonition, 
rebuke, and censure, it is, doubtless, inclu- 
ded within the authority to which refer- 
ence has just been made, as the greater 
includes the less ; yet the following are 
cited as confirmatory proofs : — 

" Now we command you, brethren, in 
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
ye withdraw yourselves from every brother 
that walketh disorderly, and not after the 
tradition which he received of us." 2 Thess. 
iii, 6. 

" For we hear that there are some which 
walk among you disorderly, working not 
at all, but are busy-bodies. Now them 
that are such we command and exhort by 
our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness 
they work, and eat their own bread. But 
ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing. 
And if any man obey not our word by 
this epistle, note that man, and have no 
company with him, that he may be 
ashamed." 2 Thess. iii, 11-14. 



46 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

See also 2 Cor. x, 8-11 ; xiii, 2, 10 ; Rom. 
xvi, 17-19 ; 1 Cor. xvi, 16. 

(3.) In reference to the institution of 
such prudential regulations and ceremonies 
as may tend to the edification of the 
Church, more objection may be urged. It 
may be said that this may open a door for 
innovation and abuse ; and this would be 
true did we claim for the pastors of the 
Church the prerogative of binding them 
upon the consciences of men, or even of 
establishing them, authoritatively, without 
the consent of the Church. 

By prudential regulations and ceremo- 
nies we mean such Church arrangements 
and services which, however advisable, 
are not essential to the great design of the 
pastoral office, viz., the promulgation of 
the gospel of Christ. 

" The right to preach the gospel, to ad- 
minister its ordinances, and to enforce its 
moral discipline, is indeed claimed as of 
divine appointment; but this does not 
imply the right to make those conven- 
tional regulations by which the divine 
statutes which impose duties common to 



ITS EXTENT. 47 

ministers and laymen, are to be carried 
into effect, in any particular Church. 
Those commands which are directed ex- 
clusively to ministers, and which, as they 
say, rest upon them with the force of moral 
obligations, they must fulfil according to 
their understanding of their meaning, and, 
therefore, according to regulations adopted 
by themselves. But whatever is common 
to all, may, without any violation of the 
divine injunction or authority, be provided 
for by the common consent, obtained in 
any way which may be deemed most ex- 
pedient." — Dr. Bond's Economy of Meth- 
odism. 

Whatever arrangements of this kind 
exist in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
exist by the voluntary consent of each in- 
dividual member of that Church, after 
having had six months' time in which to 
examine the doctrines, discipline, and 
practice of the Church. See Discipline 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, p. 30. 
The preachers of that Church, therefore, 
" cannot be charged with the assumption 
of a power which does not legitimately 



48 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

belong to them," as it has been " virtually 
conceded to them by every one who has 
entered the connexion." The principal 
prudential regulations in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, of the kind to which 
we refer, are class-meetings and love-feasts, 
to which may be added those checks and 
balances of power which so limit the ad- 
ministration of pastoral authority as to 
guard against abuse. See chapter iv. 



ITS LIMITATIONS. 49 

CHAPTER IV. 

LIMITATIONS OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 

1. Right of membership to checks and balances of power— 
2, Extent of such right— 3. These principles applied to the 
economy of the Methodist Episcopal Church— (1.) As to the 
recognition of a divine call to the pastoral office— (2.) As to 
the facility of expelling unworthy ministers — (3.) As to the 
fitness of administering ecclesiastical censures. 

In our chapters on the nature and extent 
of the pastoral office, we have endeavoured, 
as accurately as possible, to define the 
bounds of its authority and mission. Ref- 
erence has frequently been made, however, 
to certain prudential guards against hu- 
man infirmity, or abuse of power, which 
limit the administration of the pastorate. 
These checks and balances of power will 
occupy the present chapter. 

1. That the private members of the 
Church have a right to the institution of 
such prudential checks, will appear when 
we consider that the entire obedience of a 
Christian man to the law of the Scriptures 
is a voluntary obedience. It is true that 
human laws take cognizance of such im- 
i 



50 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

moralities as interfere with the rights and 
interests of others ; but obedience to God's 
law, as such, is a matter of conscience be- 
tween man and his God alone. No bodily 
pains, or temporal disabilities, can enforce 
such laws. The execution of their penal- 
ties must be left to " the judgment-seat of 
Christ." Although the Church, as a soci- 
ety of believers, be constituted by divine 
authority, and its pastors have power, with- 
in such society, to " reprove, rebuke, ex- 
hort," to " put away," and to receive into 
fellowship, those who consent to their 
claims ; yet if a man refuse to consent to 
the Church's authority and control, there 
is no earthly authority for coercion recog- 
nised by the Scriptures of truth. If, 
therefore, communion with the Church, 
like submission to any other divine law, 
be wholly voluntary, the administration 
of the affairs of the Church should be reg- 
ulated by the consent of its members, 
either expressed or implied. It does not 
follow that the will of the Church can set 
aside its divine constitution, as revealed in 
the Scriptures, since voluntary member- 



ITS LIMITATIONS. 51 

ship in tlie Church is a recognition of the 
authority of that constitution ; but the ad- 
ministration of Church authority, in ac- 
cordance with the principles of the divine 
law, should be with the consent of the 
whole. Even pastoral teachings should 
be in accordance with some standard prin- 
ciples of doctrine consented to by the 
whole Church, or else the pastors become 
" lords over God's heritage," having " do- 
minion over their faith;" or a looseness of 
opinion as to the meaning of the divine 
statutes is allowed, wholly inconsistent with 
the Church's mission as "the pillar and 
ground of the truth," and the beacon-light 
of the world. 

2. The rights of the membership, there- 
fore, require that they shall be permitted to 
recognise the divine call of each individual 
pastor ; that every reasonable facility shall 
be afforded for the trial and expulsion of 
unworthy ministers; and that the mem- 
bership themselves shall be permitted, in 
some way, to judge of the fitness of the 
cases to which Church censures, rebukes, 
&c, are to be applied. 



52 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

3. It remains for us to show how these 
principles are applied, in the economy of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. (1.) As 
to the right of the laity to recognise the 
divine call of the pastors of the Church. 
By reference to the Discipline of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, page 38, it will be 
seen that no person can be licensed to 
preach, without a recommendation from 
the society of which he is a member, or of 
the leaders' meeting, which is composed 
of laymen, who are, in this case, regarded 
as the representatives of the society. The 
Quarterly Conference, also, which confers 
the license, is composed chiefly of laymen. 
Nor can any one be ordained deacon or 
elder, in the local connexion, or be admit- 
ted on trial in the travelling connexion, 
without a recommendation from the Quar- 
terly Conference. All the Annual Confer- 
ences combined cannot license a man to 
preach, or appoint a pastor over any part 
of the Church, unless the laity have recog- 
nised his fitness to officiate as a minister 
of Christ. 

This right of the laity does not militate 



ITS LIMITATIONS. 53 

against the ministerial right to admit such 
recommended persons to the exercise of 
the ministerial office. A reference to the 
examples of the New Testament will show 
that while the membership of the Church 
should pronounce on the fitness of the can- 
didate for the ministerial office, the power 
of ordination, or of appointment to that of- 
fice, resides in the body of presbyters. In 
the selection of one to fill the vacant place 
of Judas, in the company of the apostles, 
(Acts i,) the disciples chose both Joseph 
and Matthias as suitable candidates, and 
the apostles themselves selected Matthias, 
who was numbered with the eleven. 
Again, (Acts vi,) in the appointment of 
deacons, at the suggestion of the apostles, 
the whole multitude decided upon the 
proper persons, who were ordained by the 
laying on of the apostles' hands. Timothy 
also w^as constituted a minister by the 
" laying on of the hands of the presbytery." 
1 Tim. iv, 14. The Apostle Paul him- 
self, although he began to preach straight- 
way after his conversion, (Acts ix, 20,) was 
nevertheless set apart by the ministers of 



54 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

God for the work to which the Holy 
Ghost had called him. Acts xiii. These 
passages imply that the mere selection or 
choice of the laity is not sufficient to con- 
stitute a minister of the gospel of Christ, 
though no one should be appointed to that 
work without their consent, unless, indeed, 
in cases of special emergency, as in the 
first calling of the apostles, or of the sev- 
enty, or in the preaching of the Apostle 
Paul, immediately after his conversion. 
Such an emergency, we conceive, prevailed 
in the case of the early Methodist preach- 
ers, and is a sufficient justification for the 
employment of lay-ministers by Mr. Wes- 
ley. Yital godliness being almost extinct 
in the land, God thrust out the early itin- 
erant preachers to call sinners to repent- 
ance ; and the Methodist Churches through- 
out the world are the result and the proofs 
of the divine authority of their missiou. 
The Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians : 
" Are ye not my work in the Lord ? If I 
be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless 
I am to you ; for the seal of mine apostle- 
ship are ye in the Lord ;" and we may use 



ITS LIMITATIONS. 55 

his language to the Methodist community, 
and say, "Truly the signs of an apostle are 
wrought among you in all patience, in 
signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. 
For what is it wherein you are inferior to 
other Churches, except it be that your 
ministers are not burdensome to you?" 
See 2 Cor. xii, 12, 13. 

(2.) Respecting the facility afforded in 
the economy of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church for the trial and expulsion of un- 
worthy ministers, the Discipline provides, 
(page 91,) that an accusation of immorality 
may be investigated at any time, in the 
interval of the Annual Conference, by the 
presiding elder, in the absence of a bishop, 
with at least three travelling ministers. 
In the case of a local preacher, the preach- 
er having charge of the circuit, with three 
or more local preachers, may proceed to 
an investigation, in the interval of the 
Quarterly Conference. The Annual or 
Quarterly Conference, however, as the 
case may be, finally consider and deter- 
mine the case — local preachers being al- 
lowed the privilege of an appeal from the 



56 THE PASTORAL OFFICE? 

Quarterly to the Annual Conference, and 
travelling preachers having an appeal from 
the Annual to the General Conference, if 
it be desired. The General Conference 
itself cannot do away with this privilege 
of trial by a committee, and of an appeal. 

If a minister hold and disseminate false 
doctrine, or persist in the indulgence of 
improper tempers, words, or actions, the 
conference may expel him, as in the case 
of gross immorality. Or if a travelling 
minister is accused of being so unaccept- 
able, inefficient, or secular, as to be no 
longer useful in his work, the conference 
may locate him, if it appear that the com- 
plaint is well founded. 

In these provisions the utmost possible 
security is given for the preservation of 
the purity of the ministerial office, while 
the greatest possible care is taken to pre- 
vent an unjust accusation against the in- 
nocent, or a hasty condemnation. In ad- 
dition to this, at each Annual Conference, 
the character of each travelling minister 
is considered and passed by a vote of the 
conference; and at such times, not only 



ITS LIMITATIONS. 57 

is an opportunity afforded for any accusa- 
tion to appear against a preacher's moral 
character, but the official or ministerial 
standing or usefulness of each member of 
the conference is a subject of free remark. 
It will be observed, however, that the 
principle prevails throughout the Method- 
ist economy, that a man should be tried 
by his peers. Thus the ministers of the 
Church can only be condemned or expelled 
by the consent of the pastorate. The pro- 
priety of this will be evident on a little 
reflection. Laymen cannot, in the nature 
of things, be judges of the circumstances 
and feelings of ministers, and must lack 
that nice discrimination of the moral fit- 
ness of things, in such circumstances, which 
is often necessary in order to judge of the 
guilt or innocence of an accused party. 
Besides, if Christ has committed to the 
pastors of the Church the power of ad- 
mission and expulsion, and if they be con- 
stituted judges of the fitness of those who 
may be selected by the people as candi- 
dates for the ministerial office, it must 
pertain to their duty to judge of the fit- 



58 THE PASTORAL OFFICE! 

ness of those who are retained in that of- 
fice. 

(3.) With regard to the fitness of the cases 
to which ecclesiastical censures, rebuke, 
&c, are to be applied, every reasonable 
provision is made to secure and preserve 
the rights of the membership. It is true, 
that while the economy of the Church was 
in a state of transition from the extraordi- 
nary mission of the early itinerant minis- 
ters to a more settled and definite order of 
things, the preacher was the sole judge of 
the propriety of executing the moral disci- 
pline of the Church ; but even this was 
by the tacit consent of the entire body. 
Now, no one can be expelled from the 
Church, or be subject to Church censure, 
until a verdict of guilty be rendered 
against the accused by a committee of 
trial ; and if such person complain that jus- 
tice has not been done, he is allowed an 
appeal to the next Quarterly Conference. 
See Discipline pp. 98-102. In the Consti- 
tution of the General Conference, the high- 
est ecclesiastical authority known in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, it is provided 



ITS LIMITATIONS. 59 

that they shall not "do away the privi- 
leges of our members of trial before the 
society, or by a committee, and of an ap- 
peal ;" nor can this restriction be altered 
without the concurrence of three-fourths 
of all the members of the several annual 
conferences with two-thirds of the Gen- 
eral Conference ; a proceeding which 
would be tantamount to a revolution in 
the economy of the Church. See Disci- 
pline, pp. 32-34. 

Cases, however, may arise, in which a 
society may become so corrupt, weak, or 
indifferent, that a majority of the mem- 
bers may do manifest injustice either by 
condemning an innocent person, or by 
screening the guilty from punishment. 
For such cases it is provided that if "the 
minister or preacher differ in judgment 
from the majority of the society, or of the 
select number, concerning the innocence 
or guilt of the accused person, the trial 
may be referred by the minister to the en- 
suing Quarterly Conference. As to any al- 
leged injustice by the Quarterly Confer- 
ence, however, there is no redress. 



60 THE PASTOEAL OFFICE: 

An accusation against a member may 
be investigated by the entire society or by 
a select number of them at the discretion of 
the minister. It may be objected that a 
preacher who is disposed to shield a guilty 
person may select such persons only to 
serve on the trial who are favourable to 
the accused ; but in a Church like this, 
where the ministry are dependant upon 
the popular sentiment of the laity both for 
their temporal support and usefulness, and 
where such facilities are afforded for a 
complaint to be made against a preacher's 
character and administration, such abuse 
of power is scarcely probable. Yet it 
might serve to destroy an objection if the 
selection of the committee of trial were 
provided for by special arrangement of 
the Discipline. 

As it is, the government of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church exhibits the most admira- 
bly contrived system of checks and balan- 
ces of power ever seen in an ecclesiastical 
community. "While a divinely-instituted 
ministry is recognised, and allowed the ex- 
ercise of its legitimate functions, the rights 



ITS LIMITATIONS. 61 

of the membership of the Church are ac- 
knowledged and preserved. The Metho- 
dist people, on the one hand, while anx- 
ious to preserve a system which guards 
against human weakness, or the usurpa- 
tion of power, have been ready to receive 
their ministers as the ambassadors of Christ ; 
on the other hand, all that the Methodist 
itinerancy have ever asked and all that 
they desire as ministers of God is an un- 
trammelled administration of the word of 
Christ in the pulpit, and such reasonable 
facilities for pastoral advice and instruction 
as are consistent with the itinerancy of their 
ministrations. 



62 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 



CHAPTER V. 

PECULIARITIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE IN 
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

1. What Methodist episcopacy is— 2, Such episcopacy similar 
to the apostolic form — Identity of presbyters and bishops in 
order — Yet a presiding office among presbyters is a primi- 
tive form — 3. Such an episcopacy prevalent in ecclesiastical 
history — Testimony of Eutychius, Jerome, Clement, Polycarp, 
Ignatius, &c. — Admission of divines in the Anglican Church, &c. 

While the Methodist Episcopal Church 
recognises the divine right of ministers of 
other denominations of Christians, extend- 
ing the hand of fraternal regard to all who 
approve themselves as the ministers of 
God, "by pureness, by knowledge, by 
long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy 
Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of 
truth, by the power of God, by the armour 
of righteousness on the right hand and on 
the left," (2 Cor. vi, 6, 7,) it has neverthe- 
less some peculiarities in its economy re- 
specting the ministerial office, which dis- 
tinguish it from other Christian Churches. 
These are its episcopacy and its itinerancy. 
I. Episcopacy. 1. On this subject the 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 63 

Methodist Episcopal Church occupies the 
middle ground between Presbyterians and 
High-church Episcopalians, and agrees 
with the sentiments of many of the more 
moderate Episcopalian divines. 

Methodist episcopacy is not regarded as 
a distinct order of ministers, intrinsically 
and of divine right superior to the body of 
presbyters, but is a delegated office spring- 
ing from and responsible to the presbyters 
themselves. 

Bishop Hedding, in his discourse on the 
Administration of Discipline, says : " Bish- 
ops in our Church are appointed, by the 
elders in General Conference, and are held 
strictly amenable to that body." " They 
are the servants of the elders, to go out 
and execute their commands." Again, 
" "When it is considered that the very 
men, to wit, the travelling preachers, over 
whom the bishop exercises his power, gave 
him that power ; that they continue it in 
his hands; that they can reduce, limit, or 
transfer it into other hands whenever they 
see cause ; there certainly can be no occa- 
sion for the vehement exclamations against 



64: THE PASTOEAL OFFICE 

the bishop's power, which are frequently 
made by men of other Churches, and by 
a few misguided brethren of our own." 

Bishops Coke and Asbury, in the Explan- 
atory Notes on Discipline, say of the bish- 
ops : " They are perfectly subject to the 
General Conference ;" again, "Their pow- 
er, their usefulness, themselves, are en- 
tirely at the mercy of the General Con- 
ference." 

In the Discipline, page 40, it is stated 
that a bishop is constituted by the election 
of the General Conference and the laying 
on of the hands of three bishops, or at 
least of one bishop and two elders ; but if 
by death, expulsion, or otherwise, there be 
no bishop remaining in our Church, " the 
elders, or any three of them appointed by 
the General Conference for that purpose, 
shall ordain him according to our form of 
ordination ;" thus proving that the power 
of ordination is an authority delegated to 
the bishops by the General Conference of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

2. The episcopacy of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, thus constituted, is, we 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 65 

think, nearer the apostolic form and prac- 
tice, than in those Churches whose bishops 
are regarded as a distinct and superior or- 
der of ministers. 

That presbyters (or elders) and bishops 
were identical in the apostles' days is seen 
by the manner in which the words are used 
by the sacred writers. In Acts xx, 17, 28, 
we read that the apostles sent from Miletus 
to Ephesus, " and called the elders (pres- 
byters, Tcpeopvrepovg,) of the Church," and 
when they were come he said to them, 
" Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and 
to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost 
hath made you overseers, (bishops, emctfco- 
ttovs,) to feed the Church of God," &c. It 
is evident, therefore, that the apostle re- 
garded the terms bishop and presbyter as 
synonymous, or expressive of the same or- 
der of ministers. 

In the Epistle to Titus, chap, i, 5-7, the 
apostle declares that he left him in Crete 
to " set in order the things that are want- 
ing, and ordain elders in every city ; if 
any be blameless, &c, for a bishop must 
be blameless, as the steward of God," &c. ; 



66 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

clearly proving that a bishop and an elder 
were identical. 

In the qualifications of the Christian 
ministry alluded to in the First Epistle 
to Timothy, chap, iii, the apostle speaks 
of bishops and deacons ; and in the Epistle 
to the Philippians, St. Paul salutes them 
as "the saints in Christ Jesus with the 
bishops and deacons f yet presbyters are 
acknowledged by all to have been a class 
of pastors which were general in the prim- 
itive Church, and their omission from these 
passages would be unaccountable on any 
other supposition than that they were iden- 
tical with the order of bishops to whom 
reference was made. 

That presbyters had something to do 
with the ordination of ministers is evident 
from 1 Tim. iv, 14 : " Neglect not the gift 
that is in thee, which was given thee by 
prophecy, with the laying on of the hands 
of the presbytery." Again, the only ac- 
count we have of any ordination in the 
case of the Apostle Paul himself, is in 
Acts xiii, 1-4, which shows that the ordi- 
nation was at the hands of certain propli- 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 67 

ets and teachers which were in the Church 
at Antioch. 

Yet Paul and Barnabas ordained elders 
in every Church which they founded, (Acts 
xiv, 23 ;) St. Paul was associated with the 
presbytery in the ordination of Timothy, 
(2 Tim. i, 6 ;) Titus was appointed to ordain 
elders in Crete, (Tit. i, 5 ;) and Timothy 
was directed to commit the gospel to faith- 
ful men who should be able to teach oth- 
ers, yet to lay hands suddenly on no man. 
2 Tim ii, 2 ; 1 Tim. v, 22. These passages 
seem to indicate that although bishops and 
presbyters were identical in office and au- 
thority, a sort of superintendence was com- 
mitted to some, to whom the work of or- 
daining ministers chiefly pertained — a 
state of things perfectly analogous to the 
episcopal office in the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

3. Such an episcopacy has been ac- 
knowledged in the Christian Church from 
the earliest ages. Eutychiiis, the patriarch 
of Alexandria, in his Origines Ecclesm 
Alexandrine®, affirms "that the twelve 
presbyters constituted by Mark upon the 



68 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

vacancy of that see did choose out of their 
number one to be head over the rest, and 
the other eleven did lay their hands upon 
him, and blessed him, and made him pa- 
triarch." Jerome alludes to the same cus- 
tom, and says that at Alexandria "the 
presbyters always elected one from among 
themselves, and having placed him in a 
higher rank, named him bishop." See 
Stillingfleet's Irenicum, p. 298. 

Clement of Rome, A. D. 95, wrote his 
celebrated letter to the Corinthians, re- 
proving them for having degraded certain 
presbyters from their bishopric. He uses 
the terms presbyter or elder and bishop as 
synonymous. He says, "The apostles, 
preaching through countries and cities, ap- 
pointed the first-fruits of their labours to 
be bishops and deacons over such as 
should afterwards believe, having first 
proved them by the Spirit. Nor was this 
any new thing, seeing that long before it 
was written concerning bishops and dea- 
cons. For thus saith the Scripture in a 
certain place, ' I will appoint their bishops 
in righteousness and their deacons in faith.' 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 69 

Isaiah lx, 17." "Wherefore we cannot 
think that those may be justly thrown out 
of their ministry who were either appointed 
by them, (the apostles,) or afterward cho- 
sen by other eminent men with the consent 
of the whole Church, and who have with 
all lowliness and innocency ministered to 
the flock of Christ, in peace and without 
self-interest, and were for a long time 
commended by all. For it would be no 
small sin in us should we cast off those 
from their bishopric who holily and with- 
out blame fulfil the duties of it. Blessed 
are those presbyters who, having finished 
their course before these times, have ob- 
tained a fruitful and perfect dissolution; 
for they have no fear lest any one should 
turn them out of the place which is now 
appointed for them. But we see how you 
have put out some who lived respectably 
among you from the ministry, which by 
their innocence they had adorned." " It 
is a shame, my beloved, yea, a very great 
shame, and unworthy of your Christian 
profession, to hear that the most firm and 
ancient Church of the Corinthians should 



70 THE PABTOEAL OFFICE 

by one or two persons be led into a sedi- 
tion against its presbyters." Again: "Who 
is there among you that is generous ? who 
that is compassionate? who that has any 
charity? Let him say, if this sedition, if 
this contention, and these schisms, be upon 
my account, I am ready to depart ; to go 
away whithersoever ye please; and do 
whatsoever ye shall command me: only 
let the flock of Christ he in peace, with the 
elders that are set over it? 

Thus Clement reproved both ministers 
and people. The duty to which he urges 
ministers in the last quotation he enforces 
by the examples of Moses (Exod. xxxii, 32) 
and of the princes of the Gentiles, but in 
all he uses the terms presbyter and bishop 
as synonymous, and acknowledges the 
elders as the rulers of the Church. Poly- 
carp, the disciple of St. John, writes to 
the Philippians that they abstain from 
fleshly lusts, being subject to the presby- 
ters and deacons as unto God and 01™^'' 
No mention is made of bishops as a dis- 
tinct order. 

Ignatius (A. D. 116) is the first writer 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 71 

who notices a distinction between bishops 
and presbyters ; but little reliance can be 
placed upon the writings which bear his 
name. Archbishop Wake, though per- 
suaded of the genuineness of the epistles 
of Ignatius, says that there are consider- 
able differences in the editions ; the best 
for a long time extant containing fabrica- 
tions, and the genuine being altered and 
corrupted. Yet the distinction made in 
his epistles is perfectly consistent with a 
delegated authority such as we have before 
alluded to. And that such was the case 
seems evident from his language respect- 
ing the presbyters. "Be ye subject to 
your presbyters, as to the apostles of 
Jesus Christ our hope." — -Epistle to the 
Trallians. " Your presbyters in the place 
of the council of the apostles." — Epistle 
to the Magnesians. Cyprian of Carthage 
(A. D. 248) declares of the presbyters, that 
"in ministerial honour they were joined 
with the bishops." — Stilling fleet^ s Ireni- 
CU771, p. 377. 

Jerome, in the fifth century, declares 
that " among the ancients presbyters and 



72 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

bishops were the very same; but by little 
and little, that the plants of dissension 
might be plucked up, the whole concern 
was devolved upon an individual. As the 
presbyters, therefore, know that they are 
subjected, by the custom of the Church, 
to him who is set over them, so let the 
bishops know that they are greater than 
presbyters, more by custom than by any 
real appointment of Christ." 

Testimonies of the same import may be 
given from Tertullian, Augustine, Am- 
brose, Chrysostom, Theodoret, &c. 

Many of the best divines in the Angli- 
can Church have admitted the right of 
presbyters to ordain, and their identity in 
order with bishops. Among them may 
be mentioned Archbishop Cranmer with 
others of the Reformation in the reign of 
Edward the Sixth, Lord King, Stillingfleet, 
Archbishop Usher, Whittaker, &c. 

For further information of this kind ref- 
erence may be made to " Stillingfleet's 
Irenicum," "Stevens's Church Polity," 
"Bangs's Original Church," "Lord King's 
Primitive Church," &c. 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 73 



CHAPTER VI. 

PECULIARITIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE IX 
THE M. E. CHURCH CONTINUED. 

I. Scripture warrant for itinerancy— 2. The polity growing out 
of it — (1.) The appointing power of the episcopacy — (2.) The 
presiding -elder system — (3.) The necessity of class-meetings. 

II. Itinerancy. 1. The itinerancy of the 
pastors of the Church is a peculiar and 
prominent feature of our Church polity. 
The fathers of the Church wisely regarded 
it as the keystone of the arch — essential to 
the completion and permanence of the 
whole — and found a warrant for it in the 
sacred Scriptures. They say: "The fol- 
lowing portions of the word of God are 
pointed in support of the itinerant plan for 
the propagation of the gospel, ivhich plan 
renders most of the regulations of the Gen- 
eral and Annual Conferences essenticd to 
the existence of our united society" [This 
italicising is our own.] " ' These twelve 
[apostles] Jesus sent forth, and commanded 
them, saying, Go to the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel. And as ye go, preach. 



74 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 
And into whatsoever city or town ye shall 
enter, inquire,' &c. Matt, x, 5-11. 'Then 
saith he to his servants, The wedding is 
ready, but they which were bidden were 
not worthy. Go ye therefore into the high- 
ways, and as mcmy as ye shall find, bid to 
the marriage. So those servants went out 
into the highway sf &c. Matt, xxii, 8-10. 
' Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations? 
Matt, xxviii, 19. Be as extensively useful 
as possible. ' And he called unto him the 
twelve, and began to send them forth by 
two and two, .... and commanded them 
that they should take nothing for their 
journey, save a staff only .... And he 
said unto them, In what place soever ye 
enter into a house, there abide till ye de- 
part from that place And they went 

out and preached that men should repent.' 
Mark vi, 7-12. ' After these things the 
Lord appointed other seventy also, and 
sent them two and two before his face into 
every city and place whither he himself 

would come And into whatsoever 

house ye enter,' says our Lord to them, 



IN THE METHODIST E. CIIUKCH. 75 

'first say, Peace be to this house 

And into whatsoever city ye enter, and 
they receive yon, say unto them, The 
kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.' 
Luke x, 1-9. 'And the Lord said unto 
the servant, Go out into the highways and 
hedges, and compel them to come in, that 
my house may he filled/ Luke xiv, 23. 
'They that were scattered abroad went 
everywhere, preaching the word.' Acts 
viii, 4. ' Philip .... preached in cdl the 
cities till he came to Csesarea.' Acts viii, 40. 
' Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again 
and visit our brethren in every city where 
we have preached the word of the Lord,' 
etc, Acts xv, 36. Timothy and Titus 
were travelling bishops. In short, every 
candid person who is thoroughly acquaint- 
ed with the New Testament must allow, 
that whatever excellences other plans may 
have, this is the primitive and apostolic 
plan. But we would by no means speak 
with disrespect of the faithful located min- 
isters of any Church. AYe doubt not but, 
from the nature and circumstances of 
things, there must have been located min- 



76 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

inters in the primitive Churches ; and we 
must acknowledge, with gratitude to God, 
that the located brethren in our Church 
are truly useful, and of considerable con- 
sequence in their respective stations. But, 
on the other hand, we are so conscious of 
the vast importance of the travelling plan 
that we are determined, through the grace 
of God, to support it to the utmost of our 
power ; nor will any plea which can possi- 
bly be urged, however plausible it may 
appear, or under whatever name proposed, 
induce us to make the least sacrifice in 
this respect; or, by the introduction of 
any novelty, to run the least hazard of 
wounding that plan which God has so 
wonderfully owned, and which is so per- 
fectly consistent with the apostolic and 
primitive practice." — Notes to Discipline 
of 1796. 

2. The appointing power of the episco- 
pacy, the presiding-elder system, and the 
necessity of class-meetings, arise from the 
itinerancy of the pastors of the Church, 
and are intimately connected with it. 
They must stand or fall together. 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 77 

(1.) The appointing power of the epis- 
copacy. If the essence of the ministerial 
commission is in the command to " go into 
all the world," in opposition to waiting until 
called for by the people, it is evident that 
some plan of operations must be agreed up- 
on by the ministers themselves, or each one 
will be left to move as seemeth best to him- 
self; a state of things tending to confusion 
and irresponsibility, wholly subversive of 
the design of the institution of the Chris- 
tian Church. The necessity of some plan 
or system is therefore obvious. What this 
plan should be, is, we think, a matter to 
be determined by the exigency of the case. 
It is a question of expediency and human 
judgment. This is the gist of the contro- 
versy on Church government which has 
agitated the various Christian communities 
in times past, and respecting which so 
much paper and erudition have been 
wasted. The prevalent opinion in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church is, that the 
mode in which the chief or governing 
power in a Church is to be exercised, is 
not authoritatively determined in Scrip- 



78 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

ture; so that a Church may be either 
presbyterial, independent, or episcopal in 
its polity, as may seem most expedient ; 
yet as itinerancy seems to have been the 
primitive and apostolic mode of propagat- 
ing the gospel, so an episcopal form of 
government seems most expedient for car- 
rying out the itinerant plan, according to 
its proper spirit and life. 

Rev. A. Stevens, in his Essay on Church 
Polity, enters at large into the arguments 
in favour of the episcopal mode of appoint- 
ing preachers to their respective fields of 
labour. He argues that it cannot be left 
to the preachers and people in common, 
because of the tendencies of human nature, 
which would cause the largest societies to 
choose the most popular men, and vice 
versa. Thus the less able preachers would 
be starved out, and the gifts of the minis- 
try would not be distributed; besides, 
many societies and many preachers would 
be liable to choose the same place, and 
scenes of negotiation, strife, and disap- 
pointment, would be frequently witnessed 
in the societies, which would injure the 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHUliCII. 79 

cause of the gospel. He also shows that a 
committee of preachers and laymen weald 
not answer the proper end, as such a com- 
mittee would not be disinterested, and 
would be composed of sectional men, who 
could not be acquainted with, and there- 
fore could not judge of, the wants of the 
wdiole. Such a committee, too, would re- 
quire a popular election in the conference, 
and electioneering, caucusing, <fcc, with 
all their attendant evils, would follow. 
Such a plan has been tried by some of 
those who have seceded from the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, and has proved 
abortive. "In view of these considera- 
tions," he says, " the Methodist Episcopal 
Church has chosen superintendents in 
whom to vest this power ; men who have 
no local or selfish interest in it, but travel 
over the whole land, and are counselled 
and aided by the presiding elders, whose 
local inspection of the societies enables the 
superintendent to suit his appointments to 
their necessities. How could this power 
be better vested V 

(2.) The presiding-elder system arises 



80 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

from the necessity of a local acquaintance 
with, or representation of, the various min- 
isters and Churches, in order to provide 
the most suitable appointments. The great 
object to be obtained, in order to preserve 
the efficiency of the itinerancy, is the best 
local representation consistent with the 
most disinterested generalization on the part 
of the superintendents. This disinterested 
generalization is secured by restricting the 
superintendency to a few individuals, and 
by making it their duty to travel at large 
through the entire connexion. That they 
may have the best local knowledge of the 
wants of individual preachers and socie- 
ties, the presiding-elder system has been 
devised. "Whether it could not be im- 
proved, or so altered as to be more efficient, 
is a question which has been considerably 
mooted in various sections of the Church. 
No plan, however, has yet been offered, 
which, in the view of the writer of this 
treatise, would secure the object desired 
with fewer disadvantages than the present 
system. 

If the number of bishops were augment- 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 81 

ed, as lias been urged by some, they must 
of necessity become more local in their 
views and feelings, to say nothing of the 
diversity of opinions and practice which 
would then prevail in the superintendency. 
If a committee of laymen from each charge 
should communicate with the bishop di- 
rectly, their own interests would naturally 
be dearer to them than the general want, 
and the duties of the bishops, already 
onerous, would be heavier still. Perhaps 
more than half of such representatives 
would be dissatisfied and disappointed 
every year, be the presiding bishop ever 
so desirous to suit them all. 

The chief objection to the office of pre- 
siding elder has been, the expense of main- 
taining a minister in a position where he 
has no regular pastoral charge ; and it has 
been urged that he might attend to the 
duties of the pastorate in a separate charge 
while at the same time he receives the 
representations of the other Churches in 
his district and attends to the other duties 
of his office. The chief difficulties attend- 
ing this plan are its impracticability and ine- 
6 



82 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

quality. jSTo charge could be properly 
served while such extra duties were re- 
quired ; no district would be satisfied with 
such partial service ; and such charge would 
naturally receive most attention in the 
council advising the appointments, so that 
the representation of the societies would 
be unequal. 

It is not to be denied that in some parts 
of the Church the quarterly visits of the 
presiding elder and the quarterly confer- 
ences are less interesting than formerly, 
owing to the concentration of the work 
and the individualizing spirit of the age, 
and in such sections, half-yearly conferen- 
ces might lessen the expense of the office 
referred to without much diminution of 
efficiency ; yet there are large sections of 
the Church which find quarterly visitations 
none too frequent, and it is certainly most 
consistent with the genius of the gospel 
and of Methodism for the more concentra- 
ted and wealthy societies to aid in bearing 
the burden of those who are less favoured. 

The presiding eldership is no sinecure. 
"They have a great and difficult work be- 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 83 

fore them. They are required 'to take 
charge of all the elders and deacons, trav- 
elling and local preachers and exhorters ' 
in. their districts. They are to preside in 
the quarterly conferences. It is made 
their duty ' to take care that every part of 
our Discipline be enforced 5 in their dis- 
trict. 

"By keeping a watchful eye over all 
the travelling and local preachers in the 
district, administering advice and admoni- 
tion as occasion may require, a presiding 
elder may restrain irregularities in their 
early stages ; correct small offences before 
they ripen into evils which would disgrace 
the Church, and injure the cause; and 
thereby prevent many of the charges and 
trials which otherwise would fall upon in- 
dividuals, to their injury, if not their ulti- 
mate ruin. 

"By an accurate knowledge of the gifts, 
grace, usefulness, and general character of 
all the travelling preachers under his care, 
the same officer may be prepared to give 
such a representation of them at the con- 
ference, as shall provide for a wise deter- 



84 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

mination of the following points, to wit : 
Who shall be advanced in the ministry ; 
who shall be set aside for want of talent 
or piety ; and where each man shall be 
appointed. And with respect to the local 
preachers, a solemn obligation rests on the 
presiding elder to use his influence to en- 
courage and help forward those of them 
who are pious and useful ; but especially 
to arrest, restrain, or dismiss, according to 
Discipline, those who may be found other- 
wise. He should be well prepared to give 
an enlightened and true representation at 
the conference, of every man under his 
care who may be recommended for a trav- 
elling preacher, or for orders in the local 
ministry ; that no one may be improperly 
put forward, through the influence or in- 
difference of the presiding elder." 

"This officer is to preside also in the 
trial of accused local preachers. And 
here he needs great wisdom, fortitude, and 
patience ; to see that the laws of the Church 
be duly understood and regarded in those 
trials; that proper testimony, and none 
but such, be admitted in those investiga- 



D 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 85 

tions ; and that suitable means be used to 
protect the innocent, and correct or punish 
the guilty, as the case may require." — 
Bishop Hedding on Discipline. 

(3.) The necessity of class-meetings also 
grows out of the itinerancy of the pastors 
of the Church. This necessity is clearly 
shown in the following extract from Dr. 
Bond's Economy of Methodism : "To a 
Church under the direction of an itinera- 
ting ministry they are indispensable ; for 
such a ministry could not, without the aid 
of this, or some similar institution, effect- 
ually execute the duties of a pastor. The 
limited term of a preacher's appointment 
to any circuit or station renders it impos- 
sible for him to form an intimate personal 
acquaintance with the members of his 
charge, and hence he could not know 
whether they were walking as becometh 
the gospel, — whether they were individu- 
ally growing in grace, or backsliding in 
heart from God. Without it no moral dis- 
cipline could be enforced, no pastoral du- 
ties performed, or any unity of sentiment 
in doctrines preserved among the members 



86 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

of the Church. Now, surely, that which 
is confessedly necessary to the promotion 
of piety, peace, and love— without which 
the spirituality of the Church would decay, 
and her communion be thrown open to 
those who have neither the fear of God 
before their eyes, nor his love in their 
hearts — cannot be without Scripture war- 
rant. The propriety of such conditions of 
communion must be clearly inferable from 
the doctrines and precepts of the gospel, 
which the Church is bound to inculcate 
and enforce upon all her members/' 

The class-leader, therefore, is the pas- 
tor's representative and counsellor, supply- 
ing to our Church organization the perma- 
nent advantages of a settled pastorate, 
without detracting from the efficiency and 
energy of the itinerancy. 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 87 



CHAPTER VII. 

PASTORAL CONFERENCES OF THE METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

1. The government of the Church essentially pastoral, though 
securing the rights of the laity — 2. Powers of the Annual 
Conferences— 3. Power of the General Conference— Its pas- 
toral character argued from its origin and practice — Subject 
of lay delegation considered. 

1. We have seen that the lay members 
of the Church have a right to the estab- 
lishment of such checks to the unlimited 
exercise of power as shall guard against 
undue ecclesiastical authority without sub- 
verting the spirit and design of the pasto- 
ral office, and that such a right extends to 
the recognition of a divine call to the min- 
istry ; to the privilege of proceeding, by 
accusation and trial, against unworthy 
ministers ; and to a determination of the 
fitness of the cases in which Church cen- 
sures, in respect to the laity, are to be ap- 
plied. We have also shown that these 
principles are effectually recognized in the 
polity of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
While acknowledging this right of its 
membershij) by its existing forms, the gov- 



88 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

ernment of the Church is essentially pas- 
toral government; and the conferences of 
ministers are for the regulation of ministe- 
rial duty chiefly, and are, in the proper 
sense of the term, pastoral conferences. 

2. As to the annual conferences, com- 
posed of the itinerant ministers within the 
bounds of each, the Discipline of the 
Church makes it their duty to admit or 
continue on trial in the travelling connex- 
ion, or receive into full connexion with the 
conference, preachers who may be eligible 
to such positions, after such preachers have 
been licensed to preach and recommended 
to the itinerancy by the laity in the Quar- 
terly Conferences. To them also is com- 
mitted the election of ministers, either 
travelling or local, to deacons' or elders* 
orders ; and jurisdiction over the Christian 
character and ministerial acceptability of 
the travelling ministers within their bounds, 
with the final jurisdiction of the cases of 
local preachers who may appeal from the 
judgment of the Quarterly Conference. 
In addition to this, a statistical account is 
taken of the state of the Church; the 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 89 

amounts collected for the relief of super- 
annuated preachers or their families, or to 
make up deficiencies of support, are dis- 
tributed among the proper claimants ; and 
the amounts contributed for the support of 
Missions, Sunday Schools, Tracts, and the 
American Bible Society, are recorded and 
forwarded to their destination. The sta- 
tioning of the preachers is the work of the 
episcopacy, though performed at the time 
of holding the annual conference. ]STow 
in all this, it is not easy to see other than 
pastoral powers and duties. The annual 
conference does not constitute ministers, 
they are made such before they are admit- 
ted into the travelling connexion, nor can 
they be received there without a special 
recommendation from the membership. 
It is true, the conference has the power to 
judge whether they should be advanced 
in the ministry to the fuller powers of the 
pastorate, and when so advanced have en- 
tire jurisdiction over them; but this we 
have seen to be perfectly consistent with 
pastoral duty, the practice of the primitive 
Church, and the fitness of things. Ch. iv. 



90 THE PASTOKAL OFFICE 

As to the distribution of the collections 
above referred to, it may be remarked, 
that such contributions are perfectly vol- 
untary on the part of the donors, and are 
made with the understanding that they 
will be so distributed; and our people 
have too much confidence in the integrity 
and ability of their pastors, ever to cause 
them to withhold their offerings, or seek 
another mode of conveyance, lest there 
should be a temptation to a breach of 
trust. 

The only additional prerogative of the 
Annual Conference (if we except occa- 
sional advisory or pastoral resolutions) is 
the election of delegates to the General 
Conference. As we shall endeavour to 
prove that this, likewise, is a pastoral con- 
ference, it will follow, from the argument, 
that the selection of those who compose it 
is a pastoral duty or work. 

3. The General Conference, which meets 
every four years, is composed of the dele- 
gates of all the Annual Conferences. It 
has " full power to make rules and regula- 
tions for our Church," under certain limit- 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 91 

ations and restrictions, which forbid any 
alteration or change in the articles of reli- 
gion, or the establishment of any new 
standards or rules of doctrine contrary to 
those at present existing. This restriction 
is irrevocable by any power in the Church. 
In addition to this, they are restrained, 
also, so that without a two-thirds vote, and 
the concurrent recommendation of three- 
fourths of all the members of the several 
Annual Conferences, they cannot admit 
of more than one representative for every 
fourteen members of an Annual Confer- 
erence, nor less than one for every thirty, 
provided each conference be allowed two 
delegates, and a delegate be allowed for 
the fraction of two-thirds the number fixed 
as the ratio of representation. They can- 
not (without the same concurrence) " do 
away episcopacy, or destroy the plan of 
our itinerant general superintendency ;" 
nor " revoke or change the general rules 
of the united societies ; nor do away the 
privileges of our preachers or members of 
a trial and appeal; nor appropriate the 
produce of the Book Concern, nor of the 



92 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

Chartered Fund, to any purpose other than 
the travelling, supernumerary, and super- 
annuated preachers, their wives, widows, 
and children. 

"This conference, adjunct (but rarely) 
with the Annual Conferences, is supreme, 
Its supremacy is universal." " - Supreme ' 
means, that while acting within its consti- 
tutional limits, its decisions are final and 
all-controlling." — Mr. HamlinJs Speeches 
in the General Conference of 1844. 

" Discipline in our Church originates in 
the body of itinerant elders, who are all 
supposed to be present, by representation, 
in the General Conference, once in four 
years. That body not only makes ' rules 
and regulations,' but administers discipline, 
first on the bishops, and secondly on the 
Annual Conferences. 55 " I said the Gene- 
ral Conference administers discipline on 
the Annual Conferences. The General 
Conference constitutes those bodies, fixes 
their bounds, and authorizes them to act 
as conferences ; and, therefore, governs 
them." — Bishop Redding on Discipline. 

Yet, notwithstanding the supremacy of 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 93 

its authority, the power of the General 
Conference is strictly pastoral — originating 
by the consent and appointment of the 
body of itinerant ministers, and confined, 
in its legitimate sphere, to pastoral author- 
ity only. 

The origin of the General Conference 
was by the appointment of the itinerant 
ministry, and was a concentration of power 
previously exercised by, and diffused 
among, the whole. The early Methodist 
preachers went to and fro, seeking those 
who were destitute of spiritual light, and 
wandering about as sheep having no shep- 
herd ; and their ministry was not in word 
only, but in power, in the Holy Ghost, and 
much assurance ; and many people were 
added unto the Lord. Those who joined 
themselves to these holy men consented 
to receive the doctrines they had heard, 
and to be directed, in spiritual matters, by 
their pastoral guidance. In order to secure 
unity and efficiency in their work, these 
ministers met to confer with each other, 
(hence the word conference^) and the pastor- 
al authority of each was shared among the 



94 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

entire body. When these pastoral confer- 
ences became too numerous, and a tend- 
ency to localization became manifest, the 
plan of a delegated General Conference 
was conceived, and, until the division of 
the Church in 1844, preserved the unity 
of the body throughout the entire United 
States. 

From this view it is evident that the 
General Conference can have no more 
authority than those from which it origin- 
ated, Nor has it ever asserted more. Its 
administration thus far has, w^e think, been 
confined to its legitimate sphere — main- 
taining the moral discipline of the gospel, 
as the united pastors of the Church. 

If the General Conference should at- 
tempt to ordain new articles of religious 
faith, or new terms of membership in the 
Church; or if that body should call in 
question the rights of the membership to 
which we have referred in chapter iv ; or 
deny the right of petition to the laity, — re- 
sistance or secession, on the part of the 
membership, would be an indisputable 
right, and might be a duty. But no such 






IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 95 

usurpation has ever been attempted or 
conceived of. 

Now, if the authority of the General 
Conference be thus strictly pastoral) it 
ought certainly to be confined to those 
whom the Church has consented to receive 
as their divinely-commissioned pastors ; 
and the desire of the laity (which has been 
expressed in some parts of the Church) to 
be admitted to a share in its counsels and 
authority, is a desire to assume the func- 
tions of the pastorate without sharing its 
toils, and without even the claim of a di- 
vine commission. The General Confer- 
ence, by the adoption of the report of its 
Committee on Memorials, in reply to the 
petitions in favour of lay delegation, in 
1828, says : " The great Head of the Church 
himself has imposed on us the duty of 
preaching the gospel, of administering its 
ordinances, and of maintaining its moral 
discipline among those over whom the 
Holy Ghost, in these respects, has made 
us overseers. Of these also — namely, of 
gospel doctrines, ordinances, and moral 
discipline — w T e do believe that the divinely- 



96 THE PASTORAL OFFICE 

instituted ministry are the divinely-author- 
ized expounders; and that the duty of 
maintaining them in their purity, and of 
not permitting our ministrations, in these 
respects, to be authoritatively controlled 
by others, does rest upon us with the force 
of a moral obligation, in the due discharge 
of which our consciences are involved. 5 ' 

" On this point we beg, however, that 
no one may either misunderstand or mis- 
represent us. We neither claim nor seek 
to be 'lords over God's heritage.' We ar- 
rogate no authority to enact any laws of 
our own, either of moral or civil force. 
Our commission is to preach the gospel, 
and to enforce the moral discipline estab- 
lished by the one Lawgiver, by those spir- 
itual powers vested in us, as subordinate 
pastors, who watch over souls as they that 
must give account to the chief Shepherd. 
"We claim no strictly legislative powers, 
although we grant that the term 'legisla- 
ture' and 'legislative' have been some- 
times used even among ourselves. In a 
proper sense, however, they are not strictly 
applicable to our General Conference. A 



IN THE METHODIST E. CHURCH. 97 

mistake on this point has probably been 
the source of much erroneous reasoning, 
and of some consequent dissatisfaction. 
Did we claim any authority to enact laws 
to affect either life or limb, to touch the 
persons or to tax the property of our mem- 
bers, they ought unquestionably to be di- 
rectly represented among us. But they 
know we do not. We certainly, then, ex- 
ercise no civil legislation. As to the 
moral code, we are subject, equally with 
themselves, to one only Lord. We have 
no power to add to, to take from, to alter, 
or to modify a single item of his statutes. 
Whether laymen or ministers be the au- 
thorized expounders and administrators of 
those laws, we can confidently rely on the 
good Christian sense of the great body of 
our brethren to judge. These well know, 
also, that whatever expositions of them we 
apply to others, the same are applied 
equally to ourselves, and in some instances 
with peculiar strictness." 



98 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

CHAPTER VIII. 

ON PASTORAL, SUPPORT. 

Opinion of the secular press — The duty of supporting the minis- 
try proved by Scripture — Ministerial support generally inade- 
quate—A few reasons advanced, 

It has generally been urged in answer to 
those who have objected to the extent of 
pastoral authority, that the people hold 
the purse-strings, and that this is a suffi- 
cient guarantee against tyranny and abuse 
of power — in other words, that the people 
in any particular Church may starve the 
pastor into perfect compliance with their 
will. Now it is certainly true that the 
support of the ministry in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church is a voluntary offering 
on the part of the people ; and rightly so, 
as membership in the Church is voluntary ; 
but this starving policy is contrary to the 
genius of the gospel, and would reduce 
the pastoral office to a mere puppet influ- 
enced by a few wealthy or influential per- 
sons, unless indeed the office were sup- 
plied by a continual succession of martyr- 



PASTORAL SUPPORT. 99 

spirits, or God should always call men who 
have independent fortunes to the exercise 
of its functions. 

To preserve an independent, God-fear- 
ing ministry, it is necessary as far as pos- 
sible to remove all temptation to obtain 
worldly advantage by pleasing men other 
than for their good to edification. 

The following quotation from an article 
upon the position of the American clergy, 
which recently appeared in a secular news- 
paper in New- York, (The Home Journal,) 
shows that this subject is attracting the at- 
tention of those who are not especially 
identified with the Christian Church : — 

"So far in our history, the preservation 
of civilization, amid the manifold tenden- 
cies to barbarism incident to the settle- 
ment of a new country, is due mainly to 
the labours of the clergy. At this moment 
there are vast regions in the western coun- 
try where the sole hope and stay of civil- 
ization is the Methodist pioneer preacher ; 
where the tidings that there is a better 
life than that of earth, nobler pleasures 
than those of sense, worthier aims than 

LOfC. 



100 THE PASTORAL OFFICE! 

worldly fortune, reach the ears of the 
people through him alone. But whether 
the clergy are destined to carry on to 
completion what they have begun, or 
whether the clerical profession is to become 
extinct, and a wholly different religious 
organization is to take its place, depends 
simply upon this — whether the pecuniary 
support of the American clergy shall or 
shall not be placed on a better, juster, and 
more independent footing than it now is. 
At present, as is well known, the tendencies 
all are to the extinction of the profession. 
" There are three ways now practised in 
the Christian world of supporting the 
clergy. One is for the government, as in 
France, to pay the salaries out of the ordi- 
nary revenues, just as the civil officials are 
paid. Another is the English method of 
tithes and livings ; the right of the clergy- 
man to the tithe, or its commuted equiva- 
lent, being recognised and protected by the 
law, and the clergyman holding his living 
for life, or during ' good behaviour.' The 
third is the voluntary system, in which the 
pastor is the hireling of his flock ; is ap- 



PASTORAL SUPPORT. 101 

pointed by his flock ; holds his place at the 
pleasure of his flock, and is subject to all 
the whims and caprices of his flock — whom 
he must please or leave. Under all of 
these different systems, the clergy, as a 
class, have always been poor; and — to 
their honour be it said — have never, as a 
class, complained of their poverty. It is 
wages enough, they have always felt, to 
be occupied immediately in the affairs of 
the soul, and to be exempt from worldly 
distractions. Nor is it of their poverty 
that our clergymen are accustomed to 
complain — though they might well do so, 
Heaven knows ! It is the insecurity of 
their position — their dependent, semi-pau- 
perlike condition. They are aware, of 
course, that a man with an income of four 
hundred dollars a year, upon which a 
family, and perhaps an indispensable horse, 
are to be maintained, can preach with 
little effect to a man who exults in an in- 
come of ten thousand — particularly in 
these days, when money is the only thing 
to which sincere homage is paid. But if 
that annual pittance of four hundred doh 



102 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

lars were wholly, indisputably, and for 
life, Ms own, then the pastor, intrenching 
himself in the inherent dignity of his posi- 
tion, could safely defy his proud parish- 
ioner, and preach forth the words of truth 
and righteousness, without fear or favour. 
Can he do so now T ?" 

The writer of the present treatise does 
not question the wisdom and advantage 
of the voluntary system, as it is called ; 
yet he holds it to be the sacred duty of 
each member of the Church to contribute, 
in proportion to his means, for the support 
of the ministry as such, and that individual 
delinquencies are to be treated in the 
manner provided for by the entire Church ; 
no individual member having the right to 
decide respecting such delinquencies — 
much less the right to punish a fancied or 
alleged grievance by "withholding the 
supplies." 

The following passages of Scripture set 
forth the duty of Christians to their pas- 
tors in a clear light : — " Who goeth a war- 
fare any time at his own charges? who 
planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the 



PASTORAL SUPPORT. 103 

fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock and 
eateth not of the milk of the flock ? Say 
I these things as a man ? or saith not the 
law the same also ? For it is written in 
the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle 
the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the 
corn. Doth God take care for oxen ? Or 
saith he it altogether for our sakes ? For 
our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that 
he that plougheth should plough in hope ; 
and that he that thresheth in hope should 
be partaker of his hope. If we have sown 
unto you spiritual things, is it a great 
thing if we shall reap your carnal things ? 
If others be partakers of this power over 
you, are not we rather 1 Nevertheless we 
have not used this power : but suffer all 
things, lest we should hinder the gospel of 
Christ. Do ye not know that they which 
minister about holy things live of the 
things of the temple? and they which 
wait at the altar are partakers with the 
altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained, 
that they which preach the gospel should 
live of the gospel. But I have used none 
of these things." 1 Cor, ix, 7-15. " Have I 



104 THE PASTORAL OFFICE! 

committed an offence in abasing myself 
that ye might be exalted, because I have 
preached to you the gospel of God freely ? 
I robbed other Churches, taking wages of 
them, to do you service. And when I 
was present with you, and wanted, I was 
chargeable to no man ; for that which was 
lacking to me the brethren which came 
from Macedonia supplied ; and in all 
things I have kept myself from being 
burdensome to you." 2 Cor. xi, 7-9. 

"Let him that is taught in the word 
communicate unto him that teacheth in 
all good things." Gal. vi, 6. 

U I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that 
now at the last your care of me hath flour- 
ished again : wherein ye were also careful, 
but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I 
speak in respect of want : for I have learned, 
in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be 
content. I know both how to be abased, 
and I know how to abound : everywhere, 
and in all things, I am instructed both to 
be full and to be hungry, both to abound 
and to suffer need. I can do all things 
through Christ wdiich strengthened me. 



PASTORAL SUPPORT. 105 

Notwithstanding ye have well clone that 
ye did communicate with my affliction. 
Now, ye Philippians, know also, that in 
the beginning of the gospel, when I de- 
parted from Macedonia, no Church com- 
municated with me as concerning giving 
and receiving, but ye only. For even in 
Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto 
my necessity. Not because I desire a gift ; 
but I desire fruit that may abound to your 
account." Phil, iv, 10-17. 

These passages show that while the first 
Christian ministers took the oversight of 
the flock of Christ " not for filthy lucre, 
but of a ready mind," they also regarded 
it as the duty of the Churches to contribute 
to the temporal support of those who min- 
istered in holy things — a duty which man- 
ifested the sincerity of their love for 
Christ, 

Now, as the ministry of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church is a common pastorate — 
no one minister having superior powers to 
another, excepting such as may be given 
him by the voice of the whole body — it 
follows that the support of the ministry, 



106 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

as far as possible, should be equalized 
throughout. The Discipline of the Church 
recognises this principle, by requiring col- 
lections, in each circuit or station, to be 
brought to each Annual Conference, for 
the purpose of relieving necessitous super- 
annuated and supernumerary ministers, 
their widows and orphans ; and for making 
up any deficiency in the allowance of the 
preachers ; and by requiring that any sur- 
plus money remaining in the hands of the 
stewards of any circuit or station shall be 
appropriated in the same way. 

Yet the support of the ministry among 
us is far from being equal, or generally 
ample. While a few (and but a few r ) of 
our largest stations contribute from eight 
hundred to a thousand dollars for the sup- 
port of their pastor, a very large proportion 
of circuits and stations expect their minis- 
ters to maintain a family, and, perhaps, 
" an indispensable horse," upon three hun- 
dred and fifty or four hundred dollars; 
and, in many cases, it comes short of even 
this. 

Such a state of things has been lamented 






PASTORAL SUPPORT. 107 

by many in the Church, and has been at- 
tributed to a variety of causes. The tend- 
ency to divide circuit appointments into 
small stations is one of those causes, and 
is, doubtless, a chief one. Rev. A. Ste- 
vens, in his Essay on Church Polity, thus 
refers to this subject: — "Many of these 
petty stations, especially in the eastern 
sections of our work, are too small to afford 
a comfortable subsistence to the preacher. 
Some of our conferences are groaning un- 
der the intolerable consequences, and yet 
proceed on, inexorably, in the very policy 
which has brought this calamitous state 
of things upon us — a policy which per- 
plexes our annual appointments ; absorbs, 
by a large per cent., an undue number of 
ministerial labourers ; keeps these labour- 
ers on a stinted support, under which 
many of them are annually sinking with 
discouragement; supersedes, and has, in- 
deed, nearly annihilated, in some places, 
the local ministry; is crippling many of 
our societies by prematurely insulating 
them, and thus burdening them with the 
expense of independent support, when 



108 THE PASTORAL OFFICE: 

they are capable only of a combined one ; 
a policy which, in fine, is adapted only to 
extinguish from our operations the great 
moral energies of the itinerancy, and spread 
through our work a sense of enfeeblement 
and discouragement." A remedy for this, 
we think, is found embodied in a resolution 
passed, two or three years ago, by the 
Philadelphia Annual Conference, respect- 
fully requesting the bishops to make no 
new appointments within their bounds, 
unless a guarantee were given of their 
ability and willingness to support a married 
preacher, except in special cases. 

Would it not be a relief to the episco- 
pacy, and tend to strengthen the bands of 
the itinerant system, if the recommenda- 
tion to form new appointments were left 
to a special committee of the conference ? 

Another cause of the inequality of sup- 
port in our ministry may be found in the 
fact that a large proportion of our circuits 
and stations have abandoned, in practice, 
the old Methodistic plan of weekly class 
collections for the more inefficient quar- 
terly or monthly contributions. The in- 



PASTORAL SUPPORT. 109 

frequency of sucli collections weakens, in 
the minds of many, the force of the moral 
obligation to support the ministry, and is, 
we think, a source of a great part of the 
deficiency complained of so much in many 
parts of the work. 

The above remarks have been penned 
with a view to call attention to the subject, 
^ rather than to propose a remedy, for which 
we feel ourselves insufficient. It seems 
evident, however, that whatever remedy 
be proposed, to be at all effectual, must 
be based upon the spirit and design of the 
itinerant system of propagating the gospel, 
and must resist the tendency to centraliza- 
tion now so lamentably prevalent. So 
long as Methodism retains its ancient land- 
marks, so long will it be the most effectual 
means of "spreading Scriptural holiness 
all over these lands." 



THE END. 



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theless a volume which only Mr. Jackson could have writ- 
ten. Peculiar qualifications were required for it, and those 
peculiar qualifications were all found in him. — Wesleyan 
Magazine. 

In perusing this work I have been greatly delighted. I think 
the author has laid the whole Methodist family, and, indeed, 
the whole Christian Church, under many obligations. Every 
soul who has been profited by the influence of Methodism 
ought to read this volume, give glory to God, and set out 
afresh for heaven. — Bishop Hedding. 

That admirable book, the Centenary of Wesleyan Methodism, 
ought to be in the hands, the knowledge of its contents in 
the minds, and the spirit of it in the hearts of you all — 
James Montgomery. — Missionary Address. 



MAR 8 1907 



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